Thursday, February 26, 2015

Technique: Hoisting your sail, solo

Kraken is setup for crewed sailing with halyards led aft to the cockpit. With a crew on board you typically have someone "jump" the halyard at the mast - a J motion using body weight to pull the line out and down then returning it to the mast base. During the return to the mast the pit man tails the line taking up slack. Done right the sail goes up super fast.

Harder to do solo but recently I've found a trick that helps at least when conditions are calm enough for it to be safe. Typically I've just hauled on the line from the cockpit, this is slower and on Kraken leaves a decent amount to grind up on the winch, the problem being not being able to use your weight and an extra 90 degree line turn absorbing some of your power. It also leaves you a long way from any snags.

Instead I stand in front of the mast facing aft. I do the same J motion with (for the main halyard) the line at the mast in my left hand and the tail led around a winch and back to my right hand. I then tail to myself.

Much faster!

For a while I tried doing this in the normal jumping position to the side of the mast but the tailing angle in the other hand was not comfortable.

To make this super slick I'm considering adding a turning block on the mast to have the halyard pull against.

As always tether yourself securely and don't fall in!!!

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